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Tag: 1948

  • October 11 in Seal Beach History

    On this date in 1948, the Long Beach Independent ran a human interest story under the attention-grabbing headline of “Free Blood Keeps Her Alive.”

    Helen Black, Mrs. Arilla Phillips and Red Cross volunteer, Edna Lipman

    The story was about 52 year-old Seal Beach widow Mrs. Arilla Phillips of 1305 Electric Avenue. In November 1947, she had been diagnosed as suffering from aplastic anemia –the first case of this rare condition in Long Beach and the vicinity, according to Dr. H.E. Bicknell of Seaside Hospital. Mrs. Phillips had a rare blood type only found in one out of 80 people, which made the blood transfusions she needed to stay alive too expensive.

    Lucky for Mrs. Phillips,  blood donors for the Long Beach chapter of the Red Cross were able to provide what she needed free of charge. “As long as I can get free blood through the Red Cross I get along fine. I could never have purchased the blood I need at commercial rates totaling $1725 up to this time.” The previous week, she had received her 69th transfusion.

    – Michael Dobkins

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  • July 18th in Seal Beach History

    On this date in 1948, the Long Beach Independent shared that good news that any lady with a paid escort and the following ad could enjoy fishing on either the Super Express boat or Fishing Express boat every Friday — for free! The Horseshoe or Hunting Flats fishing spots were only 15 or 40 minutes away! Lady anglers rejoice!

    July_18_1948_Fishing_Boats-Ad– Michael Dobkins

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  • March 5th in Seal Beach History

    On this date in 1948, the Long Beach Independent ran this photo from the “Seal Beach navy and ammunition depot” with the explanation that it was not a missile. It was actually a 4000 gallon cylindrical tank that had been mocked up with a faux missile head and used the rear of a caboose for a tail. The tank had been installed on a flatbed railroad car to be pulled by a diesel locomotive along the 55 miles of track in the depot, spraying waste petroleum to kill weeds on and along the tracks.

    There had been a contest on the base to name the tank, and Peggy Rickard, secretary to ordnance officer Lt. J.H. Kelly, submitted the winning name. And thus the tank was dubbed “Miss Hush.”

    There was a later Long Beach Independent story on Miss Hush in May 1957. This time Miss Hush was referred to as a “W-Bomb.” She was still being used on the railroad, but was now used as a water tank held in reserve to prevent intentionally set weed-burning fires from spreading beyond the tracks. Curiously, no one in 1957 remembered the origin of Miss Hush, but the favored theory was that she was built for display during World War II.

    As a side note to this story, it should be mentioned “Miss Hush” was a 1947 pop culture reference that will be lost on modern readers.

    Long before it was a television game show, Truth or Consequences was a popular radio show during the forties. One of its more successful contests was the 1945-46 Mr. Hush campaign. A secret celebrity would whisper clues to his identity in doggerel. It was five weeks before a contestant correctly identified Mr. Hush as Jack Dempsey. A follow-up contest ran from January to March in 1947 with new prizes added each week Mrs. Hush was not named. Finally former silent film star Clara Bow was finally identified as Mrs. Hush.

    The final hush contest ran in the last two months of 1947 and ended with Miss Hush being revealed as dancer Martha Graham. It seems a safe guess that Peggy Rickard was remembering the recent Miss Hush campaign when she submitted her name for the contest at the base.

    [youtube https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DnXn1KSoc7Y]

    – Michael Dobkins

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    This Date in Seal Beach History also has an online store hosted at Cafepress where you can order shirts, tote bags, stationery, and other gift items imprinted with vintage Seal Beach images. Visit the online store by clicking here.

  • February 25th in Seal Beach History

    On this date in 1948, a Oregon newspaper, the Corvallis Gazette-Times, ran the following ad for Dow Chemical.

    It doesn’t really grant much opportunity for nostalgia, but Dow Chemical had a plant along the San Gabriel River from 1940 well into the 1960s. There are no postcards or historical markers, but for about a fourth of the 20th Century, Seal Beach was known to some of the country only as one of the branches of the Great Western Division of The Dow Chemical Company.

    feb_25_48_dow_chemical_ad– Michael Dobkins

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  • Cocktails, Shuffleboard, and Cheesecake

    Matchbook Cover for Mamie’s – 1948-1951

    Today’s post answers the musical question, “what do The Beatles, the Memphis Belle B-17 Flying Fortress, and Clancy’s Saloon have in common?”

    Since last Friday, we’ve posted two images of the Seal Beach Pharmacy that once occupied the current storefront of Clancy’s Saloon at 111 Main Street.    While preparing a future post, I stumbled across a matchbook cover for another business that once ran at the same location.  If you were in the mood for better bar-b-q, cocktails, and shuffleboard, Mamie’s was the place to go in the late forties and early fifties.

    What is interesting about this matchbook cover is the illustration of the buxom babe preparing to go fishing by charmingly asking us if we’ll bait her hook.  The signature reads “PETTY,” who was George Petty, a well-known cheesecake artist working in the Albert Vargas style.  He did a series of pin-ups called “The Petty Girls” for Esquire magazine from 1933-1956.  His glamorous gals were reproduced extensively as nose art on American World War II airplanes, including the famous “Memphis Belle” that was featured in a wartime documentary and feature film.  You can find an image of a Petty Girl in the crowd on the album cover for Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band.  And between 1948 and 1951, George Petty drew five sets of girlie matchbook covers for the Monarch Match Company in San Jose to be used on business matchbooks across the country, including Seal Beach’s very own Mamie’s.

    One of the fascinating things about local history is how even minor ephemera like a matchbook cover can lead you far away from your original subject.

    To learn more about George Petty, visit The Pin-Up Files or view more samples of his artwork at the American Art Archives.

    Be sure to check back each week for more historical photos and stories of Seal Beach.

    – Michael Dobkins

    Have you enjoyed this and other This Date in Seal Beach History posts?

    If so, please consider making a small donation of a dollar or more to help defray the online subscriptions and other research costs that make this blog possible.

    Donations can be made securely with most major credit cards directly through PayPal. Just click on paypal.me/MichaelDobkins to go to PayPal. Thank you.